FDA Issues Sweeping New Food Safety Rules

WASHINGTON

The Food and Drug Administration is proposing the most sweeping food safety rules in decades, requiring farmers and food companies to be more vigilant in the wake of deadly outbreaks in peanuts, cantaloupe and leafy greens.

The long-overdue rules are aimed at reducing the estimated 3,000 deaths a year from foodborne illness. Just since this summer, listeria in cheese and salmonella in peanut butter, mangoes and cantaloupe are linked to more than 400 illnesses and as many as seven deaths.

The rules proposed by the FDA Friday will require farmers to take precautions against contamination on the farm - making sure workers' hands are washed, irrigation water is clean, and animals stay out of fields, for example. Food manufacturers will also have to submit food safety plans to the government.